SrinagarFort View FC, IFC Nowgam, Maharaja Sports secured victories in their respective fixtures of State Football League while Young Lal Chowk and Young Maharaja FC were involved in a goalless draw, a statement from Jammu and Kashmir Football Association-the organisers of the league-said on Monday.
According to the statement, Synthetic turf TRC Ground-the venue for the matches- was full of spectators rooting for their respective team to make it a enthralling settting.
In the first A-Division match played at Polo Ground, Fort View FC defeated Court Road FC by a solitary goal in a closely contested affair. Both the teams played aggressive football throughout the match, but Abnan Tariq managed to score one goal which proved to be decisive in the end. In the other A-Division match, Syed Taj-ud-Din FC won after getting a walkover as the opposite team Al-Fatah FC failed to report at the venue.
In the semifinal fixture of B-Division played at Synthetic Turf TRC, IFC Nowgam defeated Tawheed FC 2-0. IFC Nowgam played aggressive football and were rewarded with two goals. Owais Dar and Umer Rashid were the scorers for the winning team. With this victory, IFC Nowgam has qualified for the final of the B-Division League.
In the Super-Division match played at the same venue, Young Lal Chowk FC played a goalless draw with Young Maharaja FC. Both the team got several chances to score but wasted all those to have a 0-0 scoreline at the time of final hooter.
In the Premier-Division match, Maharaja Sports defeated J&K Forest XI by 2-0. Mahraja Sports opened their account in just the seventh minute of the play as defender Umer chipped a pass to forward Imran, who made no mistake to convert it into a goal. The Forest players tried their best to score an equaliser, but couldn’t break the defence line of the Maharaja Sports. In the 77th minute Mahraja Sports sealed the fate of the match in their favour when Raja Musharaf doubled the lead for them.
Despite their victory over Forest, the Maharaja team is two points behind Real Kashmir FC in the group and given the qualification format, they are not still sure whether they will progress further in the group or not.
Meanwhile, seeing the response of the fans and the popularity of the event, J&K Football Association (JKFA) is making all efforts to make it count. The football governing body in the state has thanked the public for their overwhelming response to the event and hoped in future also they will do the same.
“Football is the most popular game of the state and is game of masses. It has tremendous following in the state and can rightly be termed as most popular sports of J&K. The other fact that makes football very special is that it has given state number of heroes and most importantly the player who captained Indian national team, said JKFA President Zamir Thakur.
“Football which is the most popular game in Kashmir has today touched its zenith in popularity. In seventies and eighties Kashmir along with Kolkata, Kerala and Goa was considered as hub of football in India. With the formation of two I-League clubs in recent years by two business groups of the Valley, we are hopeful that the game of football will bring more glory to the state in coming years,” he said.
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